AMHERST, Mass. -
Senior Steve Baylark rushed for a career-high 235 yards as No. 6 UMass pounded Rhode Island, 41-16 in a homecoming win at McGuirk Stadium. Baylark scored two touchdowns to give him 40 in his career as he posted the 10th-most prolific rushing day in UMass history. The Minutemen moved to 6-1 overall with their fifth win a row and remained undefeated in the A-10 at 4-0.

The nation's leader in pass efficency, Liam Coen, was stellar again completing 14-of-19 for 176 yards and two touchdowns. Brandon London hauled in 4 catches for 55 yards.

UMass piled up 474 yards of offense and limited Rhode Island to just yards 308 yards.

After Rhode Island jumped out to a surprising 13-3 lead in the game's first 8:44, the Minutemen went to work scoring 38 of the game's next 41 points on the way to the win with Baylark leading the way.

Baylark capped off a 70-yard drive with his first of two touchdowns with 2:18 left in the first quarter, cutting the lead to 13-10 URI. Baylark's 47-yard rush keyed the drive.

The second quarter began with UMass' longest drive of the season, 92 yards, wrapped up by a Brandon London 9-yard touchdown pass from Liam Coen. That drive was spurred on a by a career-long 58-yard rush for Baylark. That run also put him over the 100-yard mark for the 20th time in his career. UMass is now 17-3 in those games.

The defense came up with the next score as senior Brandon Smith returned a fumble 21 yards to make the score 24-13 with 10:34 left in the first half. It was Smith's second fumble return for a score in his career, his first coming vs. Stony Brook on Sept. 23, earlier this year.

The Minutemen went into halftime with a 31-13 lead as Coen hit Rasheed Rancher from 23 yards out.

Baylark continued to run wild in the second half. He scored his second touchdown of the game on an 8-yard rush with 3:03 left in the third quarter to make it 38-13.

The teams traded field goals early in the fourth quarter. Rhode Island's Colin Gallagher made the first field goal against UMass this season, with a 21-yarder to make it 38-16. On the next drive, UMass' Chris Koepplin made his second field goal of the game, from 24 yards out to make it 41-16. It was Koepplin's ninth field goal of the season and his career, tying him for 10th in career made field goals at UMass.